


The Last Good Thing

by Shadaras



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Bow is briefly here too, Canon Divergence - s01ep02, Catra defects, F/F, First Kiss, Speedrun The Catradora Relationship, Unfortunately Canon-Typical War Crimes (Attacking a Civilian Settlement)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27201904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaras/pseuds/Shadaras
Summary: Catra leads Horde forces to get Adora back from the rebels who are holding her hostage in Thaymore.Things don't exactly go the way she expects.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 105
Collections: Fic In A Box





	The Last Good Thing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [planetundersiege](https://archiveofourown.org/users/planetundersiege/gifts).



Catra stood at the forefront of the skimmer, staring at the ground rushing beneath her. She’d travelled this same ground with Adora in their stolen skimmer two days ago, and they’d been laughing. It had felt powerful. Grand. A big adventure to celebrate their achievements. Never mind that they’d crashed, and that Adora had started acting weird after they’d come back; the trip out to the Whispering Woods had been glorious.

Today, an army rumbled behind her, tanks and troops that marched at her orders. Despite how long she’d dreamed of this, Catra still didn’t feel as good as she had when the only person with her had been Adora.

Catra took a breath and turned, grabbing the rudder from a startled recruit. “Scram,” she hissed, dragging the skimmer alongside a larger troop-carrier. “I need to think.”

“Yes, Force Captain,” the recruit stammered, jumping over the edge. Catra heard him thump onto the outer skin, and glanced over to see some other soldiers pull him onto the deck proper. She snorted, and sped ahead alone, trying to recapture some of yesterday’s lost joy.

It didn’t work. All she could think about was Adora, her memories fading into worried thoughts about her being held hostage by the rebels stationed in Thaymore. The fortress wasn’t that far from where they’d crashed the other day; it was perfectly reasonable that when Adora had snuck out (and Catra had _let her go_ , a decision that had seemed fine at the time but most certainly _wasn’t_ anymore) she’d stumbled across a patrol they’d been lucky enough to avoid in the daytime.

At least the plan to assault Thaymore was solid. The Horde had ventured there before, and Catra had pulled a previous plan out of the logs to use as a basis for her own. They’d use the trees for cover, swinging wide around Thaymore before cutting back in at its defenseless back. From there, Catra had given each unit leader orders to cause as much damage in whatever way seemed most advantageous to the assault as a whole.

She might be Force Captain, but part of how Catra had risen to the top of the trainees had been her awareness that she definitely didn’t know everyone’s strengths as well as their own teams did. She might know about tanks in theory, but fuck if Catra knew the best way to direct a tank unit to blow up fortifications; she’d leave that to the experts and trust that Lord Hordak had promoted people who were at least halfway competent.

The forest rose along the horizon, and Catra hissed at the trees. They had taken her Adora, and she wasn’t going to stop until she got her back.

An hour later, Catra didn’t precisely _regret_ her words (even if they’d only been thought in the privacy of her own head), but she wished that not stopping also meant _moving quickly_. It turned out that the trees—however much she hated them—were _extremely boring_ when one was leading a massive group of heavily armed troops through them and still trying to be at least a little sneaky.

Catra held tight to the controls of her little skimmer as she wove back and forth along the forward edge of her force. She had created this plan, and she knew that secrecy would aid them in their assault, and her patience had lasted for maybe five minutes worth of this slow crawl.

She couldn’t see any fortress walls. They’d said they would wait until they saw signs of civilization before rushing forward, and Catra thought that the fortress walls had to be the most visible thing. The trees were big, and the underbrush was thick, but a proper fortress—which Catra had seen in the prep documents, when she’d glanced through them—was _immense_ and nature couldn’t hide one.

Finally, the stalemate broke when one of the forward scouts sent back a message. It was short, but it didn’t matter how few words there were; the message was very clear: _Rebellion encampment ahead._

Catra bared her teeth, feeling adrenaline begin coursing through her limbs. “Prepare for assault!” she shouted, sending her skimmer towards a tank with a flick of her wrist. The tank might be slower and less maneuverable, but she wanted to be there on the front lines.

The message propagated through her force, and Catra heard the pleasing sound of machinery shifting to full power as everyone readied themselves for the assault. Just as Catra reached the tank, the scout caught up to her. “One more thing,” the scout said, biting his lip. “They don’t seem to be worried about being attacked. We found the camp because we heard _music_.”

Catra scoffed. “Then we’ll take advantage of their defences being lowered.” She leapt onto the tank, leaving the scout behind, and banged on the hatch. “Out! I’m taking over this vehicle!”

A terrified squeak echoed from inside the tank, but no motion. Catra sighed and jumped in, forcing the person who had been in there out with claws and bared fangs. Her hands settled onto the tank’s controls, and she felt the power rumbling through it. It felt good, and Catra’s face settled into a snarling smile as she gunned the engine and sent the tank roaring forward in the scout’s wake.

Even through the tank’s thick armor, Catra could hear the rest of the force following behind her. Bright excitement filled Catra’s chest, and for a moment she thought, _Adora is going to be so jealous_. Then memory slammed down, reminding her why she was here and what the last things that Adora had said to her had been, and the only thing left was burning rage and frustration.

Catra slammed through the underbrush, pushing the tank to its limits. It wasn’t as fast as she wished it was, because she wanted to get to the rebellion encampment and destroy the people who had dared to take Adora from her; still, it was satisfying to see and feel foliage break against metal, to prove the superiority of Horde technology once more.

As soon as she saw mushroom domes (which the tank’s system helpfully identified as targets) peeking through the greenery, Catra opened fire.

The tank clanged with recoil, and Catra watched fire and smoke burst from the now-destroyed roof. She bared her teeth, kept moving forward, and found another target. A barrage soared over her head, ruining anything resembling cover around the cluster of buildings, and Catra finally got a good look at the encampment she’d been sent to rescue Adora from.

It was hung with the remains of colorful banners, and strewn with what looked like tables filled with food from a feast, and Catra stared blankly at the sight. There were people running away, too, but that wasn’t surprising; people were supposed to retreat from the Horde. Catra shook head, ears pinning back, and settled herself. She was here to find Adora. Those other people were insignificant, merely distractions for her most important goal.

Catra drove through the camp, looking for Adora’s distinctive hair and blasting any walls in her way. People passed in front of her—mostly, but not entirely, the delicate deer-folk or wood-fairies who she knew made up most of the population of the Whispering Wood—and none of them were the bright blonde sunbeam she was looking for. (Some of them were kids, and many of them were screaming, and none of them were making any attempt to fight back. Catra tried not to think about any of it.)

When she finally saw Adora, standing in the middle of a burnt-out cluster of buildings unharmed and unbound, Catra could barely believe it. She had to check her eyes against the readouts twice, because no matter how ineffective the rebels were, they couldn’t be so idiotic as to let their captive run free without having put up even the barest appearance of a fight.

But everything checked out, so Catra popped the tank’s hatch and scrambled out into the smoky air. “Adora!” she yelled, launching herself at her best friend.

Adora turned to look at her, shock written all over her face. “Catra?”

Catra tackled her, knocking her to the ground with excitement. “They let me drive a tank! Can you believe that!” Her tail swept through the air, and if Catra thought any of the other members of the Horde could see her she might care; as it was, she wanted Adora to know exactly how happy she was to see her again.

“What are you doing here?” Adora asked, which was so far from the kind of question Catra had expected that she just blinked in confusion until Adora pushed her off and started standing up. “This is a civilian town!”

“Shadow Weaver said it was a fortress, and all the information the briefing gave agreed.” Catra folded her arms tight across her chest. She didn’t want to think about how Thaymore being a civilian town made more sense with what she’d seen. “How did you escape from the rebels?”

Adora squinted at her. “They realised I’d never been to a party before and let me wander around because Thaymore was having a festival,” she said, as if it was obvious and not the weirdest thing Catra had ever heard. “And then I realised the Horde was attacking and said I’d stop it. _Can_ you stop it?”

“Stop what?” Catra asked, blankly. “I came here to rescue you. And now I’ve found you! So if you just come with me—”

“No.” Adora cut her off sharply, in a way she’d never done before. “Catra, this is _wrong_!” Adora grabbed her shoulders, and Catra couldn’t do anything but stare into her best friend’s face. “I can’t— The Horde is _hurting people_ , Catra! I can’t do that. I thought we were going to _protect_ people!”

Catra’s tail lashed futilely against her legs, bristly with unhappiness. “Adora, I—”

“I don’t want to leave you,” Adora said, drawing back and reaching for the sword Catra belatedly realised was hanging over her back. “But I can’t sit back and do nothing. I _definitely_ can’t hurt them.” Her face set, and she looked Catra right in the eyes, the same way she always had when they’d been getting ready for a practice duel. “Can you?”

Something thick and sticky clogged her throat, and Catra shook her head like that might help clear it. “Don’t leave,” she whispered, because she couldn’t imagine the Horde without Adora at her side. “Please, Adora, don’t leave.”

“Come with me.” Adora bit her lip, and the mask of certainty that Catra had been staring at finally cracked. “I— I don’t know if I can do this alone. I don’t want to fight you.”

“Then why did you leave!” Catra leapt at Adora, lashing out with her claws as tears clouded her vision. Adora stumbled back, and Catra sprang again, tracking the beautiful golden halo of Adora’s hair. “Why did you need to find that stupid sword! Why couldn’t you just stay with me? We had plans!”

“Catra, I—”

“You’re throwing yourself in with people you’ve never met!” Catra hit Adora, this time, knocking them both to the ground. Her claws dug into Adora’s shoulders, and she bared her teeth. “How dare you!”

Adora’s eyes hardened, and she rolled them over until she was on top, one arm pressing into Catra’s collarbone while her other hand still held that sword. “Catra, I have never wanted to hurt anyone, least of all _you_.”

Catra stared up at her: Blonde hair blowing in the breeze, cheeks flushed with anger, eyes sparkling beautifully, and went _Fuck it_ because if she was going to lose everything, she wanted to have one last good thing.

So she reached up, past Adora’s defensive arm that didn’t try and stop her when her claws were sheathed, and pulled Adora down into a kiss.

Catra had wanted to do this for years. The idea had haunted her dreams for a year, as she’d grown more and more aware of Adora’s body and competence. There had never been a good time, and Adora had never noticed, and Catra hadn’t been sure if it would be worth kissing her only to find out that Adora didn’t want that the way Catra did.

But here, in the midst of a town Catra had helped destroy, Adora’s eyes widened in shock and then—tentatively at first, and then more solidly—she kissed Catra back.

Light swirled around them, starting from that weird sword that Adora had risked everything for, drawing Adora up into the air. She held onto Catra, and Catra clung to her, fur standing on end and eyes wide as she drew back from the kiss to see what the fuck was happening.

Adora was staring back at her, just as confused, but before either of them could say anything her eyes went blank with light and her body _expanded_. Catra fell back to the ground, raising a cloud of dust around her. By the time it settled and she could see Adora again, Adora didn’t really look like _Adora_ anymore. In her place stood a warrior still aglow with prismatic light, recogniseable only because Adora’s eyes hadn’t changed at all.

This Adora had a new outfit—a skirt, longer hair, golden accents on her clothes—and stood more than a head taller than she normally did. Catra blinked up at her, tried to think of what to say, and ended up with, “Holy shit.”

“Does kissing normally do that?” Adora asked. She hefted her sword, frowning at it. “The sword did this once before, but then it was to protect me.”

“ _What._ ” Catra finally got to her feet, irritated and overwhelmed by how much bigger than her Adora was now. “I don’t think kissing is supposed to do this.”

“We should test that later.” Adora grinned at her, and her smile was literally sparkling now. “Come with me?”

“I—” Catra hesitated, glancing back at the tank, at the buildings she’d blown up, at the people she’d led to this _town_.

“We can make it look like you died.” Adora swung her sword through the air. It cut so cleanly Catra could hear it whistle. “Blast some magic around so that it looks like you got into a fight with a Princess. Nobody would expect you to win that.”

Catra scowled. “I’ve got the best record at beating them in simulations!”

“Simulations aren’t like the real thing.” Adora paused, then sighed, body sagging. “The real ones are… not _less_ powerful, but a lot less… dangerous? They don’t think about fighting as much as the Horde wants you to think.”

“And you know this _how_?” Catra demanded, belatedly realising that Adora was convincing her through the simple expedient of making everything feel normal, like they were debating team records instead of whether or not to fake their own deaths.

Adora nodded her head back into the yet-unburnt part of town. “I got captured by one.”

Catra closed her eyes, counted to ten, and only then hissed, “You _will_ explain this to me later.”

“So there’s going to be a later?”

“I guess.” Catra looked away. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Awesome.” Adora’s too-big hand squeezed her shoulder. “They know what tank you’re in, right?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna blow it up.”

Before Catra could do more than stare at her, Adora pointed her sword at the tank and squinted down it. The golden glow around her condensed along the blade’s edge, then shot out as a blazing laser, incinerating not just the tank but a good amount of what was behind it too.

“I think that might have been a bit much,” Adora said thoughtfully. She grabbed Catra’s hand. “Come on! You’ve got to meet my new friends. You’re going to _love_ them.”

“I— Okay,” Catra said, clutching Adora’s hand like the lifeline it was.

She had no idea what this new life was going to be, but she could already tell it was going to be _way_ more chaotic than anything she’d experienced with the Horde.

Still, as Catra leapt over wreckage and followed Adora, her heart felt lighter than it had in years. Wherever they were heading, whatever they were going to do, they’d be free. And Adora had even said they could kiss some more.

Catra laughed, heart overflowing with adrenaline-fueled joy. “You were never this audacious in the Horde!”

“I never had reason to be!” Adora glanced back at her, eyes bright. “Now I know I can!”

“You’re going to be a menace,” Catra said, but any threat in her words was undercut by the brush of her thumb against Adora’s hand.

Adora turned forward. “I don’t want to be.”

Catra fell silent, because what was there to say to that? She didn’t want Adora to be a menace either; no matter how bad the Horde had been to her, she’d still made friends. She’d still had plans and goals and expectations. They were leaving everything they’d known, except each other.

Catra had to believe that was worth it.

Ahead, she saw a flash of purple, and Adora sped up, pulling Catra along behind her. “Glimmer!” she shouted, waving that sword in the air. “I found my friend!”

“What!” The young woman whose name was apparently Glimmer shouted back. “Why are you bringing your friend here!”

“She’s going to join us!”

Glimmer stopped what she’d been doing, which Catra belatedly realised was helping some of the civilians of Thaymore get out of rubble, and turned to face them with a cold expression on her face. “When did there become an _us_?”

“Ask Bow,” Adora said promptly.

“Also,” Glimmer said, looking at Adora with an expression Catra was shocked to realise mirrored the one she herself had made earlier, “how did you become She-Ra again?”

“Uh.” Adora blushed, and looked at Catra. “You see.”

Catra sniggered. “I kissed her,” she said, because she just _had_ to see the expressions they’d make.

The reactions were everything she’d dreamed—Adora turning bright red and covering her face, Glimmer’s jaw dropping open—and Catra decided right then and there that defecting was worth it if she could have this much fun.

“We can talk about it later,” Adora said, very quickly, as if she could take Catra’s words back. “Let’s just— I need the Horde to believe that Catra died, so that they don’t come after us again.”

Catra hesitated, then said, “Shadow Weaver was tracking you. With magic. I mean, I think our badges have trackers too? But she was definitely using magic.”

Adora stared at her, then winced. “Glimmer, can you keep her from tracking us?” she asked, reaching forward to remove the Captain’s badge shining proudly on Catra’s chest. Catra wanted to protest, but she’d told them her suspicions, so… Catra sighed and let Adora take it and, using the power of her strange transformed body, crush it in her hand.

“My mom or aunt might be able to,” Glimmer said, staring at the crumpled metal. She looked up at Adora, face twisted up in something Catra was pretty sure was concerned. “But—”

“We’ve got to try.” Adora took a deep breath, squeezed Catra’s hand, and then let go. “I’m going to destroy some more Horde weaponry. Glimmer, keep an eye on Catra.”

Before either of them could protest, Adora had disappeared, leaving them with identical scowls on their faces.

“She’s always been like this,” Catra said, breaking the silence. “Says a plan and assumes everyone’s on-board. Everyone knows she’s being groomed to be the next Force Captain, and eventually be the leader of all the Horde armies.”

Glimmer sighed. “That explains a lot.”

“Are you going to tie me up?” Catra asked, keeping her distance from Glimmer, just in case. “I’m not— Adora’s right, she’s going to make it look like I’m dead, and I— I’m not going to leave her.”

“So long as you help these people whose lives you destroyed, I’m not going to tie you up.” Purple light burst into existence around her fists. “But I will _kill you_ if you hurt _anyone_.”

Catra smirked. “You sure you can?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Adora would kill us both if we hurt each other,” Catra said cheerfully, and ducked away to finish moving the piece of rubble Glimmer had been working on clearing as they’d arrived.

Glimmer ground her teeth audibly, and they settled into silence, working side-by-side and waiting for Adora’s return. It was… weird, standing beside a _Princess_ , especially one who shoved her into rubble every time they heard someone coming. “In case it’s a Horde soldier and we can’t silence them,” Glimmer said, after the first time.

Catra hissed at her, but didn’t protest. She understood. If she had a defector, she’d hide them from the rebellion in just the same way. She still didn’t understand why she wasn’t tied up, but she _definitely_ wasn’t going to complain about that. So instead Catra sulked alongside Glimmer until a loud explosion sounded from what Catra supposed had once been the center of town.

Maybe thirty seconds later, running footsteps sent Catra and Glimmer both into shelter. Glimmer peaked over the edge of a shattered wall, and then relaxed. “Over here!” she called, dragging Catra out of hiding.

Catra tore herself away from Glimmer’s hand. She was about to open her mouth and complain when she realised that one of the people running towards them was Adora, back to her normal self, and the other person had to be a rebel soldier.

“She’s my friend!” Adora said, grabbing the boy’s shoulder when he pointed an arrow straight at Catra. They were still running, and neither of them stopped moving even with the contact. “It’s okay!”

“She’s been fine,” Glimmer added. Even if she didn’t sound like she was happy about it, Catra still grinned in satisfaction. “I don’t think you need to shoot her, Bow.”

“How—”

“Escape first, figure out how to explain to Mom later!” Glimmer said, cutting off anything the boy—apparently called Bow, which was a stupid name, even for an archer—had been planning on saying.

Catra fell into step next to Adora as they ran into the deep woods. “So,” she said, nudging Adora with her elbow. “Is it gonna be like this all the time?”

“Which part?” Adora asked, laughing. Horde training, especially for command-track trainees, had often involved running and giving orders; neither of them were going to run out of breath anytime soon. “Fighting, running, or making new friends?”

“I dunno.” Catra looked in front of them, to where Glimmer and Bow were arguing about where they were going and how _She-Ra_ was one thing but _some random Horde defector_ was another. She laughed suddenly, and reached out to grab Adora’s hand. “How about the kissing?”

Adora blushed, but she didn’t pull away. “Yeah,” she said, and her smile could light up the world. “I think we can make that happen some more.”

Catra grinned. She might not know what the next day would bring, but at least she and Adora would be facing it together.


End file.
